Roll-screen construction



Nov. 25, 1930. N. oLDHAM ROLL SCREEN CONSTRUCTION Filed April 8, 1927 Erg.

muy

Inc/@7% y f guiding portions of thebottom rail'are yield'- Patented Nov. 25, 1930 UNITED" STATES NILE 'oL'DrrAiyn or' CHICAGO, ,ILLINOIS ROLL-SCREEN CONSTRUCTION Application mea April s, 1927. serial No( ifsieoa.Y

This invention relates to a new and improved roll screen construction and more particularly to an improved track and bottom. rail construction .for such screens.4 Screens 6 which roll up on rollers have heretofore been manufacturedwith bottom rails `xedly securedithereto, the rails having rigidly connected end portions which ride on'the side guides or tracks. The rigid bottom rail construction has required that the tracks be accuratelyspaced and be absolutely parallel with each other so that the screen may move uprand down without binding. Itfhas also been customary to spot-weld. or solderl the screen to the rollerandv to the bottom rail. :This practice requires considerable. high priced labor as ,well as veiqoensive machinery and adds materially to the cost ofthe finished product, Another. drawback .of .such construction liesin the large expense involved l to replace a torn or damaged screen'since substantially the entire structuremust. Vbe re- Plwed-` i It is an objectof the present invention to provide a screen construction in which the ingly connected to thescreen whereby binding in the guides is eliminated. f `i Y i lIt is a further. object to provide a' construction having a simple andsubstantially rigid form of-siderail ortrack.` f It is also an object to provide-a .construcytion in which the screen is. firmly but detachably secu-redto the roller and to thebottom rail. .V

Other and further objects willappear. as the description proceeds. i I have illustrated in the accompanying f drawings a preferredembodiment o f my invention l 3 In the drawings-f Y l w Figurel is a fragmentary view partly in section showing.V the enti-re screenco'nstruction" n f. Figure'2 is a section taken online 2f2 of Figure 1*;

Figure 3 is asection taken `on line 6-,6 of Fi ure 1; and

igure 4 is a perspective View of a bottom rail guide member.

shaft.

The screen is carried in a housing 11 which is secured to a window frame 12 by means of the angle members 13 and 14, which latter areconnected by bolts 15 to the end caps 16 ofthe housing. The housing"contains` the outwardly facing supporting caps 17in which is journa'led the shaft 18. One end of the shaft is split, as shownat 19, and the pin 21 .1s inserted in this split. This pin prevents `recess28 which is lsubstantially circular in cross section. TheA recess 28 opens through the side' of the roller 22 with a narrow slot.

VTheend of the screen 29V extends down into theslot 28 and around a retaining member 30 and `out ofthe slot uponv the opposite side.

The guide members 31 are secured by bolts i V32 to the anglesupporting members 33. The

angles 33 are secured tothe window frame by screwsv 34, as best shown in Figures 2 and 5;. The guides or trackvmembers are formed cal cavity 35.. This-cavity is provided with double walls which aiford a very rigid construction,A although made of relatively light gauge material. One edge 36 of the guide is` bent around the opposite edge 37 which also serves to strengthen the construction as well ,as give it a smooth finish. The rails are prefi erably provided with a pair of bolt holes 3 8 foreach bolt so that the track may be secured to the supporting angle in either of two selected positions. Y Y

vThe bottom rail 39y also consists of asingle v strip of sheet metal bent upon itself to the desired form. The strip may be said to have one edgerat point 40 and at the upper point 41, is 'bent horizontally and then down to form the substantially cylindrical portion 42, up again to the point 43, then down to of a single piece of sheet metal which is bent H upon itself to form a substantially cylindrithe point 44 and out and back to form the double thickness extension 45. The lower bend extends over to have its edge abut against the other edge at 40. The lower end of the screen extends down between the spaced portions of the bottom rail into the cylindrical chamber 42 and around the retaining member 46 and up a short distance parallel to the downwardly extending portion. The out edge of the screen is -thus housed within the bottom rail.

The end clips 4T are shown in perspective in Figure 4 and the two parallel legs 48 are shown in section in Figure 3. These legs are rovided with outwardly bent portions 49 which fit about the Cylindrical portion 42 of the bottom rail. The legs 48 bend inwardly closely adjacent each other at 50 and are then bent out to form the integral substantially tubular portion 51. The bottom portion of the legs 48 is cut away so as to form notches 52 which are equal in depth to the thickness of the material. This enables the bottom of the neck portion 50 and tubular portionr51 to fit down Hush with the bottom face of the rail 39.

The edges of the screen travel in the tubular chambers in the guides or raills-31 and the screen edges may have staples 53 secured thereto so as to prevent the edges from pulling out of the rails. The railsshown are quite rigid and will not spring apart to permit the staples to pull out under any normal pressure. However, the upper outer portion of each rail is preferably cut away diagonally as shown at 54, so as to permit the reinser tion of the staples into the rail guideway should any be pulled out. The back half of the rail 31 extends up flush with the bottom of the housing l1, as best shown in Figure l.

Any suitable clip may be provided to engage the bottom rail to hold the rail down against the tension of the spring 25 which tends to raise the screen. This tension is largely counteracted, however, by the frictional engagement of the tubular portions 5l with the guide members 48 within the guide rails. The guide members 48 are formed of spring metal and have a delinite resilient engagement with the guide members.

In assembling the screen to the roller and also to the bottom rail, the retaining members 30 or 46 are placed transversely of the screen adjacent the end thereof and the screen is folded about them. These members need not be rigid met-al members but a flexible cord has been found to serve satisfactorily for this purpose. If desired this cord may be saturated with'a lubricant to prevent rust. It has also been found that once the screen has taken the form shown, the cord or other member may be removed and the screen itself has suiiicient rigidity to be retained firmly in engagement with the roller or bottom rail. It will be understood that after the screen iS given this formation, it is assembled with the bottom rail or roller by sliding the engaging portion of the screen endwise into the groove formed in the member. It will be seen that this method of assembly is much cheaper than spot-welding or soldering, as has been done heretofore, and also permits of ready separation of the parts. A damaged screen may be readily removed and a new one replaced without the use of tools or destroying any other portions of the assembly. If the screen has been torn or injured adjacent its ends, merely a small portion can be cut oit and the new end of the screen readily formed to .fit with the groove. t

The guide members 48 are merely frictionally held within the ends of the bottom rail 39 proper. They may move in and out of the rail as required by any lack of parallelism This makes a careful' between the tracks. and exact yadjustment of the tracks unnecessary and greatly facilitates installation of the construction. It will be noted that the portions 49 of the guide members closely grip the portions 42 ofthe Vrail 39 and the tops and bottoms of the members 48 also closely tit within the rail so that these guide members, while they mayslide either in or out, cannot tilt or get into angular relation with the rail. It will be apparent that my construction consists of a plurality of parts all of which may be assembled without any soldering or spot-welding operation, thus minimizing labor and machine expenses. The parts may also bereadily separated for repair and renewal which is a large factor in reducing upkeep costs.

While I have shown certain preferred forms of construction by way of illustration,

I contemplate such changes and modifications as come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 1. In a roll screen and guide members comprising reversely bent resilient metal elements having legs fitting within the bottom rail and an interconstruction, having a screen, a bottom rail secured to the screen,

mediate portion adapted to engage a side..y

track.

2. In a screen construction, an integral transverse sheet metal member having portions forming a longitudinal groove, the

open side of the groove being narrower thanrp.

a lower portion of the groove, said portions adapted to grip a screen secured to said member by having a reversely bent portion of the screen extending within the lower portion of the groove, said member having` other portions forming a hollow body member open at the ends.

3. In a screen construction, a metal bottom rail formed of sheet metal bent upon itself to form a narrow longitudinal slot, the ends of the rail being open, and guide members having portions adapted to fit into the ends of the rail between the outer rail por-- tions and the form the slot.

4. In a screen construction, a metal bottom rail formed of sheet metal bent upon itseli:1 to form a narrow longitndinalslot, the inner portion of the slot beingsubstantially circular in cross section, the ends of the rail being open, and guide members having portions adapted -to fit into the ends of the rail between the outer rail portions and the portions bent inwardly to portions bent inwardly to form the slot,rsaid I guide members having portions curved to fit the substantially circular portion of the slot forming part of the rail member.V

5. In a screen construction, a transverse bar member of sheet metal, said sheet metal` bent upon itself to form a hollow body portion open at the ends and adapted for the insertion of guiding members, a finger grip extension from said body portion whereby said bar member may be moved, and a longitudinal open sided groove for the attaehy Y ment of screen cloth, said groove being restricted adjacent the entrance thereof.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 2nd dayv n NILE OLDI-IAM. y

of April, 1927. 

